THE BOOK OF MICAH
LESSON 2: CHAPTERS 1-3
I. THE PREDICTION OF JUDGEMENT (1:1-3:12)
Thus says the Lord GOD [Yahweh]: It
shall not stand, it shall not be! The head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of
Damascus is Rezin; the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is
the son of Remaliah. Within sixty-five years, Ephraim shall be crushed, no
longer a nation. Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm!
Isaiah 8:7-9 (NABRE)
Outline of Micah:
Reigns of the Kings of Judah during Micah's prophetic mission:
The answers to the questions are at the end of the lesson.
Introduction to Micah (1:1)
Micah 1:1 ~ Title, Inspired Writer, and Dates of His Ministry
The word of Yahweh which came to Micah of Moresheth during the reign of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. His visions about Samaria and Jerusalem.
Verse 1 sets the time of Micah's prophetic ministry during the reigns of Judahite kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Micah's hometown is named three times in the Bible: Micah 1:1a, 1:14, and Jeremiah 26:18 (called Moresheth-Gath in verse 14). Some Biblical scholars place his hometown in Southwest Judah. Others, like Oded Lipschits, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and Jakob Wohrle, a professor of Old Testament studies at the University of Tubingen, propose that Moresheth-Gath is Biblical Azekah, a mighty stronghold of Judah.1 The town's site has not been positively identified; however, Micah 1:14 identifies it as one of the towns at risk from the Assyrian invasion.
Micah received divine poetic visions to correct and convert the hearts of the people of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Yahweh directs Micah to call them to repentance, denouncing injustice and immorality and reestablishing their covenant commitment to Yahweh.
Judgment on the People (1:2-2:13)
Micah 1:2-7 ~ Judgment on Samaria
2 Listen, all you peoples, attend, earth and everyone on it! Yahweh intends to give
evidence against you, the Lord, from his holy temple. 3 For look, Yahweh is
leaving his home, down he comes, he treads the heights of earth. 4 Beneath him,
the mountains melt, and valleys are torn open, like wax near a fire, like water
pouring down a slope. 5 All this is because of the crime of Jacob, the sin of
the House of Israel. What is the crime of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the
sin of the House of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 So I
shall make Samaria a ruin in the open country, a place for planting vines.
I shall send her stones rolling into the valley, until I have laid her
foundations bare. 7 All her images will be shattered,
all her earnings consumed by fire. I shall leave all her idols derelict;
they were amassed out of prostitutes' earnings, and prostitutes' earnings once
more they will be.
Micah's mission was when the Assyrian Empire was expanding and gradually conquering the countries that occupied land along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a time when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was experiencing a period of economic prosperity, having made trade treaties with the kingdoms of Tyre, Sidon, and Damascus. However, increased contact with those pagan cities also brought exposure to their pagan gods and the corruption of public morality. The result was widespread social injustice denounced earlier by the Prophets Amos (Amos 2:12-16; 3:9-12) and Hosea (7:1-12; 13:1-3, 9:11-14:1). One-third of the Book of Micah exposes the sins of the covenant people, the second third describes Yahweh's punishment against them, and the last third offers the hope of restoration once judgment is delivered if the people repent.
In verse 2, Micah summoned all the people to hear the divine accusations against them. In 1:2-3:12, he issues a series of prophecies of punishment addressed to the capital cities of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah issues a prophecy of doom against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, against their leaders/rulers, priests, and prophets (cf. 3:11-12). Because of their crimes, which included idolatry and the unjust treatment of the poor and disadvantaged, their corruption, and selfishness, Samaria and Jerusalem will fall to their enemies.
3 For look, Yahweh is leaving his home, down he comes, he treads the heights of
earth. 4 Beneath him, the mountains melt, and valleys are torn open, like wax
near a fire, like water pouring down a slope. 5 All this is because of the
crime of Jacob, the sin of the House of Israel. What is the crime of Jacob? Is
it not Samaria? What is the sin of the House of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
Yahweh comes in a theophany, expressed in its devasting effects on the natural world.
Although Micah addresses his summons to "all peoples," God speaks directly of
Israel and Judah through His prophet, identifying their crimes with their
respective capital cities.
6 So I shall make Samaria a ruin ...
Only Samaria is scheduled for destruction in verses 5-6, and it will be a military
disaster. The United Kingdom of Israel ended after the death of King Solomon
when the ten northern tribes rejected the rule of his son, King Rehoboam, and
established the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 930 BC. The Southern Kingdom of
Judah continued with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, ruled by Davidic kings
with their capital at Jerusalem (1 Kng 12). Samaria was the capital of the
Northern Kingdom, where the kings of Israel ruled. King Omri (885-874 BC)
established Samaria as his capital and built an elaborate palace there. See the
handout on the kings of Israel and Judah.
Pictured is one of the excavated walls of the Samaria palace, where the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel reigned. The Bible describes the palace as an "ivory house" (2 Kng 22:39). The photo is from Naham Avigad, "Samaria (City)," in Ephraim Stern, ed., The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (1933).
Micah condemned not only Israel but also the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Their behavior showed they had also turned away from their covenant with Yahweh. He prophesied that Samaria would become a heap of ruins (cf. 1:6-7) and that, too, would be the fate of Jerusalem (verses 6-7; cf. 3:12).
7 All her images will be shattered, all her earnings consumed by fire. I shall
leave all her idols derelict; they were amassed out of prostitutes' earnings,
and prostitutes' earnings once more they will be.
Samaria's fate will be total destruction. Since she refused to destroy her pagan images,
God will send an enemy to shatter them. In the books of the prophets,
prostitution is often a metaphor for idolatry (Hos 1:1-3; 4:14). The verse refers
to the idols the people worshipped and the earrings of sacred prostitutes
attached to pagan cults in Samaria whose wages supported the pagan temple. For
Micah, all of Samaria is a prostitute, as Israel is for Hosea, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel. See Hosea 1:2b; 4:14 and Amos 2:7-8. Deuteronomy 23:18-19 (17-18)
commanded, There must be no sacred prostitute among the women of Israel, and
no sacred prostitute among the men of Israel. You must not bring the wages of a
prostitute or the earnings of a 'dog' to the house of Yahweh, your God,
whatever vow you may have made: both are detestable to Yahweh, your God. Sacred
prostitution had been a feature of the Canaanite religion and continued in
other pagan cultures. 'Dog' was a derogatory term for male prostitutes.
The Northern Kingdom embraced idol worship when they broke away from the United Monarchy of the Davidic Kingdom, made Jeroboam I their king, and stopped worshiping at the Jerusalem Temple. See 1 Kings 12:26-33 and 2 Kings 17:7-23.
Micah 1:8-16 ~ Lament for Jerusalem and the Lowland Towns
8 This is why I shall howl and wail, why I shall go barefoot and naked, why I
shall howl like the jackals, why I shall shriek like the owls; 9 for there is
no cure for the wounds that Yahweh inflicts: the blow falls on Judah, it falls
on the gateway of my people, on Jerusalem itself. 10 Do not announce it in
Gath, in ..., shed no tears! In Beth-Leaphrah, roll in the dust! 11 Sound the
horn, inhabitant of Shaphir! She has not left her city, she who lives in Zaanan.
Beth-Ezel is torn from its foundations, from its strong supports. 12 What hope
has she of happiness, she who lives in Maroth? Instead, Yahweh sent down
disaster on the gateway of Jerusalem itself! 13 Harness the horse to the
chariot, you inhabitant of Lachish! That is where the sin of the daughter of
Zion began; the crimes of Israel can be traced to you! 14 And so you must
provide a dowry for Moresheth-Gath. Beth-Achzib will prove a disappointment for
the kings of Israel. 15 The plunderer will come to you again, you citizen of
Mareshah! And into Adullam will vanish the glory of Israel. 16 Off with your
hair, shave your head, for the children that were your joy. Make yourselves
bald like the vulture, for they have left you for exile.
Micah 1:8-16 has the prophet's lament for the cities that will be destroyed by the invasion of Assyrian King Sennacherib (701 BC). The list includes Moresheth-Gath, Micah's hometown, among the fortified Judahite cities in the Shephelah Valley and close to Lachish, the second largest city in Judah just 15 miles to the south.
Micah sees the fall of the Northern Kingdom as a wound for the covenant people (verse 9). Therefore, he cries out a lament and appeals for penance as a sign of repentance and the rejection of sin (verse 16), which has caused the collapse of Samaria (1:6-7) and contaminated the "daughter of Zion," Jerusalem (verse 13).
11 Sound the horn, inhabitant of Shaphir!
The horn is the shophar, a ram's horn. The Hebrew for "sound the horn" is shophar
he'ebiru. Adding the word shophar is an alliteration with Shaphir. The
ram's horn sounded a warning of danger and was a call to battle.
The prophet foretold disaster for twelve towns in Philistia and southwestern Judah. Archaeologists have identified seven: Gath, Moresheth-Gath, Zaanan, Lachish, Achzibm Mareshah, and Adullam. The remaining towns must have been in the same region; one name was lost to the Scriptural record. Micah foretells an invasion affecting his hometown, serving as a warning for Jerusalem. His reference is probably to Assyrian King Sennacherib's invasion of Philistia and Judah in 701 BC.
It is important to remember that when God sends the judgment of affliction, He does so to provoke repentance and conversion. It is the way the early Church Father Origen interpreted this passage: "It is said that the Lord punishes in order to bring about the conversion of those who are in need of repentance; this argument is neither flawed nor false. Evil has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem (verse 12): that evil is the disgrace brought about by the sufferings inflicted on them by their enemies and leads to the conversion of the people of the city" (Contra Celsum, 6. 56; Navarre Bible, Minor Prophets, page 186).
15b And into Adullam will vanish the glory of Israel. 16 Off with your hair, shave
your head, for the children that were your joy. Make yourselves bald like the
vulture, for they have left you for exile.
Adullam is where David sought refuge in 1 Samuel 22:1. Yahweh will abandon the town
that saw the beginnings of the Davidic dynasty but not the eternal covenant He
made with David (2 Sam 7:16; 23:5;
2 Chron 13:5; Sir 45:25; 27:11/13). In verse
16, Micah calls for signs of repentance, which include wearing sackcloth and
ashes and shaving one's head. Samaria's judgment of affliction took place in
722/21 BC. See the head shaving as a sign of mourning in Isaiah 3:24 and
Amos 8:10.
Question #1: What was the
fate of the citizens of the Northern Kingdom? See 2 Kings 15:27-29 and 17:5-6.
The answer is at the end of the lesson.
King Hezekiah of Judah called his people to national repentance and avoided Micah's prophecy of destruction. However, the people and their kings returned to covenant disobedience, and the prophecy of destruction fell in the 6th century BC with the Babylonian invasion. St. Jerome wrote: "That same evil, the punishment of sin that razed Samaria to the ground, will come to Judah, to the very gates of my city, Jerusalem. Samaria was destroyed by the Assyrians; Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Babylonians" (St Jerome, Commentarii in Michaeam, I, 6-9). He also wrote: "As wax cannot endure the nearness of the fire, and as the waters are carried headlong, so all of the ungodly, when the Lord comes, shall be dissolved and disappear" (Commentarii in Michaeam, I.1.4, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament XIV, The Twelve Prophets, Micah, page 152).
Micah 2:1-5 ~ Disaster for Those Who Take What is not Theirs
1 Disaster [Hoy = Woe] for those who plot evil, who lie in bed planning mischief! No sooner is it
dawn than they do it, since they have the power to do so. 2 Seizing the fields
that they covet, they take over houses as well, owner and house they seize
alike, the man himself as well as his inheritance. 3 So Yahweh says this: Look,
I am now plotting a disaster for this breed from which you will not extricate
your necks; you will not hold your heads up then, for the times will be
disastrous indeed 4 That day they will make a satire on you, they will strike
up a dirge and say, "We have been stripped of everything; my people's land has
been divided up, no one else can restore it to them, our fields have been
awarded to our despoiler." 5 Because of this, you will have no one to measure
out a share in Yahweh's community.
This oracle begins with "Woe!" as an expression of disaster directed against the social injustice perpetuated by the rich who take advantage of the poorer members of society. Verses 1-2 likely refer to debt confiscation, in which creditors took advantage of the poor to enlarge their holdings. Their judgment will come when invaders will enact the same injustice on them.
Question #2: Which of the
Ten Commandments have these wealthy men violated? See Exodus 20:1-17 and
Deuteronomy 5:6-22. The answer is at the end of the lesson.
The answer is at the end of the lesson.
5 Because of this, you will have no one to measure out a share in Yahweh's community.
Micah addressed these words to the wealthy land-grabbers. Their sins of injustice
will exclude them from an inheritance in Yahweh's kingdom. God is the owner of
the Promised Land, and He has allotted the land to the Israelites by tribes and
families (Josh 13-19) with the right to dispossess them of the land if they
break His covenant (Lev 25:23; also see Jesus's Parable of the Wicked Tenants,
Mt 21:33-46).
Micah 2:6-11 ~ The Prophet of Misfortune
6 "Do not drivel," they drivel, "do not drivel like this! Disgrace will not
overtake us! 7 Can the House of Jacob be accused? Has Yahweh grown
short-tempered? Is that his way of going to work? His prophecies can only be
favorable for his people Israel!" 8 But you are the ones who play the enemy to
my people. From the inoffensive man you snatch his cloak, on those who feel
safe, you inflict the damage of war. 9 My people's women you evict from the
homes they love and deprive the children of my glory forever, 10 saying, "Up
and off with you! You can't stay here!" For a worthless thing, you exact an
extortionate pledge. 11 If a man of the spirit came and invented this lie, "I
prophesy wine and liquor for you," he would be the prophet for a people like
this.
In verses 6-7, the prophet's listeners object to his threats. The prophet quotes the words of the opponents. They accuse him of being a false prophet and base their rejection of his message on the strength of their covenant with Yahweh that they inherited through Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 17:5-10) and which continued through Isaac (Gen 26:3-4) and Jacob (Gen 28:13-15). In verses 8-10, Micah responds that the covenant with Yahweh has been violated by those who are now hypocritically appealing to the Abrahamic covenant and only listen to the prophets who promise them material blessings (verse 11).
Micah 2:12-13 ~ Promises of Restoration
12 I shall assemble the whole of Jacob, I shall gather the remnant of Israel, I
shall gather them together like sheep in an enclosure. And like a flock within
their fold, they will bleat far away from anyone, 13 their leader will break
out first, then all break out through the gate and escape, with their king
leading the way and with Yahweh at their head.
Micah now turns to a promise of restoration: God will gather back a faithful remnant of Israel like a shepherd gathers his sheep. He will choose a shepherd for them in the Messianic Age (cf. Ezek 34:1-16, 23-24). Their leader is a king who will lead them with Yahweh as their ultimate guide.
Question 3: How did Jesus
use the same imagery in verses 12-13 in His "Good Shepherd Discourse" in
John 10:7-18?
The answer is at the end of the lesson.
The promised restoration occurred after the Babylonian exile when Persian King Cyrus (6th century BC) conquered the Babylonians, allowed the exiled people of Judah to return to their homeland, and helped them rebuild the Jerusalem Temple (Jer 25:11-12; 2 Chron 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4). Also, see the prophecies of restoration by Micah's contemporary, the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah (40:11; 43:5; and especially, 44:28-45:7).
Judgment on the Leaders (3:1-12)
Micah 3:1-4 ~ Against the Rulers Who Oppress the People
1 Then I said, "Kindly listen, you leaders of the House of Jacob, you princes of
the House of Israel. Surely you are the ones who ought to know what is right, 2
and yet you hate what is good and love what is evil, skinning people alive,
pulling the flesh off their bones, 3 eating my people's flesh, stripping off
their skin, breaking up their bones, chopping them up small like flesh for the
pot, like meat in the stew-pan?" 4 Then they will call to Yahweh, but he will
not answer them. When the time comes, he will hide his face from them because
of the crimes they have committed.
The theme running through Chapter 3 is summarized in 3:11-12, which also sums up the entire book thus far. As God's voice to the people, Micah addresses his message to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. He tells them they have no excuse for their wrongs because they have the Law to guide them on the path of righteousness. In very dramatic hyperbole, he lists their crimes. Then he tells them when the time comes for them to be punished for their crimes, "they will call on Yahweh, but he will not answer them." God will "hide his face from them" because of their unrepented crimes. They must accept the just punishment they deserve in atonement for their sins and to call them to repentance.
Micah 3:5-8 ~ Against Venal Prophets
5 Yahweh says this against the prophets who lead my people astray: So long as
they have something to eat they cry "Peace." But on anyone who puts nothing
into their mouths they declare war. 6 And so, for you, night will be without
vision and for you the darkness without divination. The sun will set for the
prophets, the daylight will go black above them. 7 Then the seers will be
covered with shame, the diviners with confusion; they will all put their hands
over their mouths because there is no answer from God. 8 Not so with me, I am
full of strength (full of Yahweh's spirit), of the sense of right, of energy to
accuse Jacob of his crime and Israel of his sin.
Micah is not contesting the prophets' role as Yahweh's emissariesbut accusing them of being petty, venial, blind, and mercenary in not faithfully fulfilling their mission. For passages on gifts to prophets see 1 Sam 9:7-8; 1 Kng 14:3; 2 Kng 4:42; 5:15, 22; 8:8-9 and Amos 7:12). Micah tells them they will become useless with no vision or revelation from God to guide them (verse 7).
Micah 3:9-12 ~ To the Rulers: Prophecy of the Ruin of Zion
9 Kindly listen to this, you leaders of the House of Jacob, you princes of the
House of Israel, who detest justice, 10 wresting it from its honest course, who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with
iniquity! 11 Her leaders give verdicts for presents, her priests take a fee for
their rulings, her prophets divine for money and yet they rely on Yahweh!
"Isn't Yahweh among us?" they say, "No disaster is going to overtake us." 12 That
is why, thanks to you, Zion will become ploughland, Jerusalem a heap of rubble
and the Temple Mount a wooded height.
Micah continues to accuse the rulers of taking bribes (verse 11; cf. verse 1) and being unjust towards the poor, seeing them as people to exploit (verses 2-4). He also continues to criticize the prophets for preaching false messages and holding their hands out to accept money while leading the people astray (verses 5 and 11).
who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity!
In verse 10, Zion refers to the hill in Jerusalem where the palaces of the Davidic
kings stood. When speaking of Jerusalem's imposing palaces and buildings, Micah
refers to the extortion of the poor in taxes that paid for their construction
(see Jer 22:13-15;
Amos 3:10, 15; 5:11; 6:8).
11 Her leaders give verdicts for presents, her priests take a fee for their
rulings, her prophets divine for money, and yet they rely on Yahweh!
Verse 11 lists the sins of the princes, priests, and prophets. Micah accuses:
Yet all three groups claim to "rely on Yahweh" and claim that "no disaster will overtake us." However, sincere devotion to God is impossible if one is unjust toward others. God, in His mercy, has filled His prophet Micah with His spirit to proclaim justice and denounce sin (verse 8).
St. Gregory the Great wrote, "Because of their avarice, they accept the wages of sin given to them in this life, and at the same time they preach the mercy and indulgence of God" (In librum primum Regum, 1, 25, Navarre Bible Commentary, page 191).
Verse 12 delivers God's judgment for Judah's sins. It is the most comprehensive of Micah's prophecies of punishment concerning Judah: the destruction of Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, and the Temple, thus encompassing the entire population. Verses 11-12 express the book's general theme to this point in Micah's prophecies. However, verse 8 gives hope to the faithful filled with God's spirit that the Lord will never forsake His people. The prophet Jeremiah quoted Micah 3:12 in Jeremiah 26:18, Micah of Moresheth, they said, who prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, had this to say to all the people of Judah, "Zion will become ploughland, Jerusalem a heap of rubble and the Temple Mount a wooded height." This conditional threat influenced King Hezekiah to call for repentance and reforms in Judah, thus avoiding disaster (2 Kng 18:4ff).
We can still discern a promise of salvation in the two reproaches of the rulers and prophets. Yahweh continues to act on behalf of His covenant people even though he hides His face from evildoers and His divine revelations from venal prophets. Through His prophet Micah, He continues to reach out to His people, filling him with His Spirit to proclaim justice and denounce sin (verse 8). The theme of the Book of Micah's second part is found here: Yahweh never forsakes His people!
Endnotes:
1. One of the earliest historical
references to Moresheth-Gath comes from the Egyptian Amarna letters, where a
king of Gath describes a city in his territory known as Murashtu, an Akkadian
rendering for the name Moresheth. The letter establishes the location of
Moresheth-Gath in the territory of Gath, likely in the Elah Valley, a
strategically important corridor through the Judean foothills.
Answers to the Questions:
Answer to Question #1: The Assyrians conquered Galilee in
732 BC and deported the entire population into Assyria. Then, in 722/21 BC,
they destroyed the city of Samaria, and the citizens were taken away into exile
in Assyrian lands. At that time, the Northern Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist.
Answer to Question #2: The commandments prohibit violence, injustice, and coveting the goods of another as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud: "The tenth commandment unfolds and completes the ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh. It forbids coveting the goods of another as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud, which the seventh commandment forbids. "Lust of the eyes" leads to the violence and injustice forbidden by the fifth commandment. Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the Law. The tenth commandment concerns the intentions of the heart, with the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the Law" (CCC 2534).
Answer to Question #3:
Jesus claims this prophecy is about
Him. He is the Good Shepherd in this prophecy of Messiahship. He is the "gate"
that gives access to the sheep. Only those who "go in" by Jesus have the
authority to claim the protected "pasture" with Yahweh as their Divine Father
and Jesus Christ as their King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 17:14 and
19:16).
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